[Sources of information and knowledge on childhood immunisations among Polish parents]

The aim of the study was to obtain information on parents' knowledge about mandatory and recommended vaccinations in Poland. Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) method was used. The interviews were collected from parents who had children aged < or = 3 years. Two-stage sampling was used: first, a list of 3,000 households with children < or = 3 years was quota-selected from a consumer database collecting contact information from 95% mothers during deliveries; in the second stage, random digit dialling was used to attempt the interview with parents. The questionnaire applied was based on the survey developed by UK Department of Health. A total of 1045 interviews were collected, 960 from mothers, and 85 from fathers. The response rate was 77%. Mean age of parents was 28.9. Most parents (72%) had secondary or lower level of education. General practitioners (about 90% respondents) were found the most important, and the most reliable source of information for parents. Media (66%), including Internet (18%), were the second main source of theirs knowledge, but they were not considered as reliable source. Parental knowledge on obligatory vaccinations included in the childhood immunization schedule was found to be very low. Only 30% and 5% of respondents spontaneously recognized polio and Hib vaccines, respectively mandatory. The largest proportion of respondents indicated hepatitis B (46%) and tuberculosis (45%) as serious illness, and only 22% and 23% considered diphteria, and measles as serious diseases. Poor knowledge on childhood immunisations among Polish parents needs to be addressed by improvement of reliable information on vaccines and vaccine safety.